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Boy Howdy Father’s Day was hot! Rachel and I drove down to the Colorado Springs to have lunch and go on a hike in Garden of the Gods with her mom and dad for Father’s Day. Two things conspired against us. One, Rachel sprained her foot sometime last week, poor baby. And two, it was just too hot to walk outside. We did have a nice lunch and drove through the Garden of the Gods; the temperature gauge put the temperature at 100 Degrees! We had a terrific time! Garden of the Gods is beautiful and I can’t wait to go back when the weather is considerably cooler.

Rachel’s foot was bothering her a little bit during the week but on Saturday morning when we got up her foot was really hurting. Luckily her doctor’s office was open and we where the 1st ones in. Doc said it was probably sprained but wanted us to get an X-ray. Homes by emailAnother stroke of luck, the X-ray place was open on Saturday too and we found out to foot was not broken! Yea! Bad part was we could not attend Doxypoluza in Jefferson County on Saturday, bummer! Rachel had her foot iced all day while I attended to her needs!

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

From 2007 to 2010, American households lost nearly 39 percent of their wealth, reaching 1992 levels (when adjusting for inflation), the Federal Reserve reports. Homes by email

How much households were affected depended on how they spread out their investments, where they lived, and how much they earned, analysts say. How much is your home worth?

"Richer people owned more bonds that didn't get killed," Scott Hoyt, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, told USA Today. "For middle-income households, their primary asset is their house, and the government stimulus backstopped incomes at the low end."

Americans lost about $7 trillion in home equity during the housing crisis, starting in 2006, the Fed notes.

The overall losses in median households’ wealth wiped out any gains households that had been seen in the late 1990s during the technology and Internet boom and the post-2000 housing boom, the Fed noted in its report. Get your daily bank owned Denver homes

While incomes started improving somewhat in 2011, economists note that incomes began regressing again this year.

"Incomes went down more during two years of this recovery than during the recession itself," Gordon Green, co-founder of Sentier, told USA Today. "I don't think we've seen anything like this."

Landlords Cash in on Higher Demand

Taking advantage of an increase in home owners-turned-tenants, apartment landlords are raising their rents and expect to continue to do so. Be the 1st to get new listings.

During the first quarter, monthly apartment asking rents increased 2.2 percent year-over-year, reaching an average of $1,070, according to Reis, a property research firm.

Vacancies are at lows and developers are trying to rush projects of multifamily housing to meet the increased demand from renters, but continued constraints on lending has put the brakes on many projects, particularly in smaller markets. Homes by email

"I'm optimistic about the multifamily sector, certainly for the next two years," Kevin Thorpe, chief economist at Cassidy Turley, a commercial property brokerage, told Investor’s Business Daily. "We've entered a period of sustained rent growth.

The reason behind analysts’ optimism: Young professionals are increasingly turning to renting and more than 3 million former home owners, who have been displaced by foreclosures or short sales, are turning into renters.

Demand for single-family home rentals is increasing too, according to CoreLogic. A four-month supply of single-family homes is now available for rent, which is down from five months a year ago, according to CoreLogic data. How much is your home worth?

Home Buyers Find Market Isn't What They Expected

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A shortage of “move-in ready” homes and bidding wars over houses in good condition are leaving potential buyers scrambling to find a home to buy, according to media reports. Be the 1st to get new listings.

Housing inventories have sunk nationwide, leaving home shoppers with fewer options. Bidding wars are back, and in some markets the shortage is prompting buyers to try to bid on homes even before they are listed, reports The Los Angeles Times. How much is your home worth?

In April, the number of for-sale homes was 2.5 million, which marks the lowest number for an April since 2006, according to National Association of REALTORS®’ housing data.

“The sharp drop in inventory along with rock-bottom interest rates have helped stabilize even some of the hardest-hit markets, including the Southland, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami,” The Los Angeles Times reports. “Some real estate professionals are concerned that the lack of inventory might turn off potential buyers, stifling the recent recovery in home sales.” Homes by email, be the 1st to see new listings as they hit the market.

While buyers are suddenly feeling a sense of urgency, sellers are feeling they can wait, says Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin.

Meanwhile, investors are snatching up bank-owned properties at bargains, new construction remains at historic lows, and home owners are taking a “wait-and-see-approach” before they list their homes. That’s left many buyers scrambling to find a property. Get your daily bank owned Denver homes.

Some home owners are hesitant to sell, held back by negative equity and waiting for more of a bounce-back in home prices before they list.

"With the downturn, it seems like there are a lot of people who have been waiting in the wings to pounce, and because the rates are low, there is just a lot more competition," says one LA-area home shopper, Eddie David, who says he and his wife have been outbid on three different properties recently. "We tried to get in on a couple other homes, and even though it had been just a week or two weeks, it was just too late."

Signs of Sustained Recovery Abound

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, June 11, 2012

The various small businesses that drive the country's housing market are reporting signs that the industry may be making a real and sustained comeback.

At the start of this year's spring selling season, home builders and real estate professionals alike expressed optimism about the growing number of prospective buyers showing up at open houses and inquiring about current house listings. It now appears that interest has translated into sales in many markets.

Mark Prather, whose real estate agency, ERA Buy America Real Estate Services is on the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties, states, "We had a terrific March, better April, and May is going to be the best closing month since 2006."

Other success stories are being reported across the nation, as business is being driven by pent-up demand. Many people had put off buying a home since prior to the recession, and prices are lower after plummeting during the housing crisis. In addition, rising rents are making buying more attractive, and mortgage rates are at record lows. The National Association of Realtors states that more than 1.3 million previously occupied homes were sold from January through April—a 7 percent increase from more than 1.2 million a year ago.

Record Low Rates Inaccessible to Many

Fixed-rate mortgages have been at all-time lows for nearly six weeks, increasing home buyers’ purchasing power and helping to trim home owners monthly mortgage payments—at least for those who qualify.

An increasing number of home buyers and refinancers say they are shut out of the cheaper borrowing conditions due to banks’ tightened lending standards, according to new data released last week by the Federal Reserve.

One Washington home owner with a top-notch credit score says he has been trying to refinance his mortgage but has been told “no” by banks because his mortgage is underwater. He told The New York Times that interest rates will at some point rise again, “and I should have been able to get those low rates. It’s not fair.”

“While low rates are supposed to encourage Americans to take more risks, ordinary Americans have been unwilling or unable to take advantage of them,” The New York Times notes in a recent article.

“There’s definitely winners and losers in this kind of extremely low interest rate environment,” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, told The New York Times. “In this case, any borrower that has access to the capital markets and doesn’t have to fill out a loan application at a bank is definitely going to have a tremendous advantage.”

Many policy makers say a housing recovery will be put on hold until banks start lending more.

“The real problem is that relatively few borrowers meet the tougher standards of today even if they could benefit from refinancing, and that is the frustration,” Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, told The New York Times. Cecala says that in 2003 there was nearly $4 trillion in mortgage originations (which includes home purchases and refinancing activity). However, in 2011, despite the lower mortgage rates, total originations were $1.4 trillion.

Source: “In Era of Cheap Money, Consumers Are Shut Out,” The New York Times (June 8, 2012)

FHA Hopes Bulk Sales Will Curb Foreclosures

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, June 11, 2012

The Federal Housing Administration announced it will begin selling off distressed mortgages in bulk, which may help prevent foreclosures for thousands of home owners. Beginning in September, FHA says it hopes to sell 5,000 mortgages each quarter.

The move will also help the FHA get rid of some of the 700,000 or so seriously delinquent mortgages that it holds. Many of those delinquent loans originated from 2007 and 2009, the height of the housing crisis.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan says there may be a greater opportunity for investors to buy the troubled loans and either reduce the principal on the loans or offer rent-to-own plans, thereby keeping more home owners in their homes.

Home owners whose loans are sold might one day get a call from someone saying “‘Hey, we’re willing to cut your payment dramatically, or cut the balance on your loan dramatically,” Donovan said. “There are going to be a set of options that might arrive on that doorstep as the best news that home owner has ever heard.”

Boy wasn’t it hot on Saturday! Rachel and I took at walk to get coffee on Saturday morning; it was so hot already she got an iced coffee. We decided then that we were staying inside for the day! Too hot to even walk the dogs! I was afraid our wiener dogs would be cooked if we went anywhere!

On Sunday it was a completely different day, nice cool temperatures in the 70’s all day. We started lazy but ended up spending the day outside. A nice trip with the dogs to the East High Farmer’s Market started the day, picked up some great heirloom tomatoes, and finished at Jazz at City Park for the 2nd week of Jazz in the Park. In the middle we had a nice bike ride over to the Savory Spice shop to pick up some spices for Rachel’s sister in Oregon. We forgot the Rockies game was mid day, so it made the bike ride a little more challenging yet still fun!

I got a ton of new clients but I still need more. Talk to anyone you know and let me know who needs to buy and who needs to sell! I will be looking out for those phone calls and emails! I need at least one new client this week and I’m sure I can count on you to help me get there. Thanks in advance.

Had an inspection on a condo with great views, under a $150,000 in downtown Denver, while it rained on the garden Saturday morning and then Rachel and I went to the Five Point Jazz Fest and met up with a bunch of friends. We weathered the weather under the Denver Water tent, best water in the country. Then the rain stopped, the jazz started up and then a flash mob started to form dancing to the jazz and just grew and grew in size! It was the coolest thing ever! We all had a great time and Sunday was a day of rest.

2nd deal is a 2 unit condo for $60,000. Both units are currently rented at $1100 a month. Cash on Cash return is approximately 19%. You get your money back in a little more than 5 years. (I know of 2 of these deals!)

Send me an email with a couple of available dates and times and we will take a look!

Also, I need to help at least 30 new clients between now and the end of the year, please send me their contact information and I will call them right away! Thanks in advance.

Obama to Tout Success of Refi Programs

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, May 11, 2012

The White House is set to announce today figures reflecting a big jump in the number of Americans participating in federal initiatives meant to aid financially strapped home owners and bolster the sluggish housing market.

Officials say the new data underscore the efficacy of programs President Obama has implemented to let more home owners refinance into historically low interest rates.

Obama will use the figures to demonstrate the need for lawmakers to take even more action to give still more Americans the same opportunity.